She fell in love with the man that she thought I was
And stayed to love the man that I am.
Reality is a cure for something, anything
When it consents not to deprive . . .
Category: Culture
Thought of the Day
We are our own worst critic. The most damage that others can go do to our self-worth is to assert what we already believe about ourselves.
Another reason love is so powerful: we forget about ourselves, focus exclusively on someone else. We’re a labyrinth whose walls only a true heart can collapse.
Contrary to Popular(?) Belief
One of the greatest and most succinct pieces of advice–“Be yourself!”–also is inherently contradictory. It both attempts to affect another person’s behavior while simultaneously advising against being influenced by other people.
This is essential humanity. We are born dependent. We are social creatures our whole lives. We fear dying alone . . .
Yet we are strongest as full individuals, unique and authentically autonomous.
The tension between these two opposing ideals defines so much of the human experience. We must love ourselves, love others, and be loved–a truly monumental task to set ourselves to.
I say this knowing you probably shouldn’t listen to me or cannot hear me among the million voices in the opinionated crowd. But it is who I am . . .
Everything You Didn’t Know About Turtles
If I ever get a yard to put one in, I’d consider installing a turtle pond. Seems like a fun idea even if it is a lot of work to care for such creatures. Quite a lot of work . . .
Er, maybe I’ll just get a cat.
Thought of the Day
Human nature is ugly; if we wish to be beautiful, we must act with what little grace we are afforded and remand the remaining wreckage for mortality to erode away.
Thought(s) of the Day
Why must lovers so often be possessive? How could we wish suffering upon those who do not reciprocate our affection? What intimacy expresses itself as violence?
Why do love and cruelty so softly mesh?
Thought of the Day
Cynical: A “maybe” is just a “no” without the stinger.
Earnest: All doors are open that are not latched.
Upshot: Take heart in the truth of the moment, whatever may come.
A Shot in the Dark
A question has rattled around in my mind for some time:
How could one tell the difference between an ordered universe and a completely random one?
These might seem like two very different entities. However, both types of universes would contain persistent patterns and phenomena. In the former, the persistence would be the result of established forces. In the latter, just the result of sheer chance.
Do we have the analytical means to tell the difference between these causes?
Think about it. The limits of human knowledge are more constricting than they initially might seem to be.
Thought of the Day
“I quickly laugh at everything, for fear of having to cry.”
–Pierre de Beaumarchais.
Oh the absurd human and its dozens of interchangeable emotions.
Let’s just laugh until we blur into tranquility.
Or until we forget why all the blood rushed upward to begin with . . .
Advice for the Vapid at Heart
The best piece of advice I ever got was “Follow your own instincts.” Because what else do we have really? I’ve probably been advised to do almost everything and its opposite by one person or another along the way. For good or for ill, you can only live with the decisions that are truly yours, the one’s that come from the most authentic parts of yourself.
Even Kim Kardashian needs to be Kim Kardashian. In the end, the only true emptiness is not knowing who you are.
